(no subject)
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Republican-led House bowed to a White House veto threat
Thursday and stood by the USA Patriot Act, defeating an effort to block
the part of the anti-terrorism law that helps the government investigate
people's reading habits.
The effort to defy Bush and bridle the law's powers lost by 210-210,
with a majority needed to prevail. The amendment appeared on its way to
victory as the roll call's normal 15-minute time limit expired, but GOP
leaders kept the vote open for 23 more minutes as they persuaded about
10 Republicans who initially supported the provision to change their
votes.
"Shame, shame, shame," Democrats chanted as the minutes passed and votes
were switched. The tactic was reminiscent of last year's House passage
of the Medicare overhaul measure, when GOP leaders held the vote open
for an extra three hours until they got the votes they needed.
"You win some, and some get stolen," Rep. C.L. Butch Otter, R-Idaho, a
sponsor of the defeated provision and one of Congress' more conservative
members, told a reporter.
Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said he switched his initial "yes" vote to "no"
after being shown Justice Department documents asserting that terrorists
have communicated over the Internet via public library computers.
"This new world we live in is going to force us to have some
constraints," Wamp said.
The effort to curb the Patriot Act was pushed by a coalition of
Democrats and conservative Republicans. But they fell short in a
showdown that came just four months before an election in which the
conduct of the fight against terrorism will be on the political agenda.
Besides successfully fending off the effort to weaken the law, the veto
threat underscored the administration's determination to strike an
aggressive stance on law enforcement and terrorism.
The House has voted before to block portions of the nearly
three-year-old law, but Congress has never succeeded in rolling back any
of it. Yet neither has Bush succeeded in his quest to expand some of its
powers.
Supporters of the law said the Patriot Act has been a valuable tool in
anti-terror efforts. The law, enacted in the weeks after the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks, gave the government stronger powers to conduct
investigations and detain people.
"I would say, in my judgment, that lives have been saved, terrorists
have been disrupted, and our country is safer" because of the act, said
Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee
and a man President Bush is considering to be the next director of the
Central Intelligence Agency.
Otter and Rep. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., led the effort to block one
section of the law that lets authorities get special court orders
requiring book dealers, libraries and others to surrender records such
as purchases and Internet sites visited on a library computer. They
contended the provision undermines civil liberties and threatens to let
the government snoop into the reading habits of innocent Americans.
"We are all in that together," Sanders, one of Congress' most liberal
lawmakers, said of the anti-terror effort. "In the fight against
terrorism, we've got to keep our eyes on two prizes: the terrorists and
the United States Constitution."
The House voted last summer to block so-called "sneak and peek" searches
the law allows without the target's knowledge and with warrants
delivered afterward, but the provision never became law. Otter abandoned
a similar amendment Thursday after it was ruled out of order for
procedural reasons.
Thursday's showdown was over an amendment to a $39.8 billion measure
financing the Justice, Commerce and State departments for next year,
which passed, 397-18. The Senate has yet to write its version of the
bill.
The House vote came amid Bush administration warnings of an increased
risk of attacks this summer and fall because terrorists hope to disrupt
the November's elections.
Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., read a letter from the Justice Department
stating that "as recently as this past winter and spring, a member of a
terrorist group closely affiliated with al-Qaida" had used Internet
services at a public library. The letter mentioned no specifics, Wolf
said.
"If we can stop what took place in my area," said Wolf, whose district
is near the Pentagon, a Sept. 11 target, "then I want to stop that,
because we've gone to enough funerals."
Critics of the Patriot Act argued that even without it, investigators
can get book store and other records simply by obtaining subpoenas or
search warrants. Those traditional investigative tools are harder to get
from grand juries or courts than orders issued under the Patriot Act,
which do not require authorities to show probable cause.
"We don't want tyranny," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.
According to a list read by a House clerk, lawmakers switching their
votes from "yes" to "no" included GOP Reps. Michael Bilirakis of
Florida, Rob Bishop of Utah, Tom Davis of Virginia, Jack Kingston of
Georgia, Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado, Nick Smith of Michigan, Thomas
Tancredo of Colorado, and Wamp.
Some Democrats switched from "no" to "yes," including Robert Bud Cramer
of Alabama, Rodney Alexander of Louisiana, and Brad Sherman of
California.
The bill is H.R. 4754
In a dramatic scene on the floor of the U.S. House yesterday, the White
House and Republican leadership rigged a key vote on a bill that would
have reformed the Patriot Act by requiring "law enforcement to go to a
regular court instead of a secret court to get permission to demand library and
Internet access records of people it is investigating." The reform,
sponsored by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and broadly supported by 332
local governments, at one point was winning 219-201, and when the official voting
time ran out "appeared to have been approved by a 213-206 vote."
But even as House members screamed
"Shame!," Republican leaders abused their power by indefinitely
extending voting time, using the extra time to force nine of their
colleagues to switch their votes. Rep. Butch Otter (R-ID),
a top sponsor of the bill who voted for it, said "You win some, and some
get stolen after they
rigged the process and subverted democracy. And see how lawmakers who
supported yesterday's legislation are today attempting to shut down the
House in protest.
IGNORING THE PROTEST OF DICK CHENEY: In rigging the vote, House leaders
ignored the timeless protest of Vice President Dick Cheney. In 1987,
then-Rep. Dick Cheney (R-WY) criticized the practice of holding open
votes to overturn bills, calling the maneuver "the most heavy-handed,
arrogant abuse of power in the 10 years I've been here.''
VOTING DOWN A BILL THEY CO-SPONSORED: Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) and Zoe
Lofgren (D-CA), both co-sponsors of Sanders's
underlying legislation,
refused in the waning moments to support the bill. Lofgren, who voted
"present," argued the Sanders bill was too broad. What she refused to
acknowledge, however, is that House rules precluded him from offering
more limited legislation, and that his measure would have likely been
modified in House-Senate negotiations to ultimately become the very bill
she co-sponsored in the first place. But because she and Wamp cast the
deciding votes against the measure, there will be no Patriot Act reform
at all.
SPREADING A MYTH TO DEFEAT A BILL: The Bush administration, which
threatened to veto the measure if passed, resorted to outright misinformation to confuse
wavering Members of Congress. Just before the vote, the Justice
Department sent a letter to House
members saying that at least twice in recent months "a member of a
terrorist group closely affiliated with al Qaeda used Internet services
provided by a public library." What they failed to say was that the
Sanders legislation would not have precluded law enforcement from
obtaining those library records - it would have merely forced them to
obtain a warrant from a judge (which, if the threat was as critical as
they said, should not have been difficult). Rep. Wamp, the co-sponsor
who voted against his own legislation, cited the Justice Department
letter as the reason he switched his vote.
CLAIMING PATRIOT ACT OPPONENTS DON'T CARE ABOUT 9/11 DEATHS: During the
floor debate on the bill, Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) had the nerve to argue
that those supporting the bipartisan legislation were disregarding those
killed on September 11. Referring to those in his district who died,
Shays said, "I have 70 constituents who lost their rights on September
11; and to hear this debate, I am not sure [you] seem to care about
that." Incredibly, Shays made his comments just moments after an
impassioned speech in support of the bill by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY),
who represents the Manhattan district encompassing Ground Zero. Rep.
Jose Serrano (D-NY), who also represents New York City and supported the
bill, immediately stood up after Shays and said "to have a New Yorker
hear that we somehow do not care for the victims of September 11 is
really the cheapest kind of blow... I knew people that died there. I was
friends with people who died there...[But] in the process of caring for
the victims of September 11, no one said we were supposed to throw away
the Constitution."
A PATTERN OF INTIMIDATION: Republicans have abused their power and
extended votes before in order to get their way. As the NYT reports,
when the controversial Medicare bill appeared headed for defeat last
year, Republican leaders "held the vote open for three hours to get
colleagues to switch their votes." Currently, the House ethics committee
is looking into accusations that one lawmaker, Mr. Smith (who also
switched his vote on the Patriot Act measure yesterday), was offered a
bribe on the House floor for his vote. Rep. Sanders' noted just how
obscene yesterday's behavior was saying, "I find it ironic that, on an
amendment designed to protect American democracy and our constitutional
rights, the Republican leadership in the House had to rig the vote and
subvert the democratic process in order
to prevail." Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) said the tactics "have turned
[Congress] into a laughingstock," while other lawmakers "suggested wryly
that the United Nations needs to send in election observers to monitor the House."
NEW REPORT: Bush Appointees In Iraq
FYI - attached is a report we (Center for American Progress) did for the
American Prospect detailing how President Bush specifically appointed
partisans and corporate cronies (instead of independent auditors) to
oversee taxpayer money in Iraq. The report shows that even as companies
like Halliburton continue to bilk U.S. taxpayers, the administration's
inspector generals, budget officers, and sub-cabinet officials (who are
supposed to be independent) continue to sugarcoat what is really going
on. As the article points out, Just last week, the Pentagon's Inspector
General - who previously made his career as a top Republican partisan -
actually offered a public statement justifying Halliburton's rip-offs.
The article with links to background material can be found at
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=
8076
These Dogs Don't Hunt
A Pentagon inspector's defense of Halliburton is a textbook example of
the cronyism of Bush's so-called watchdogs.
By David J. Sirota and Judd Legum
American Prospect - 07.09.04
Fact: Halliburton has overcharged taxpayers for food, accepted kickbacks
for oil subcontracts, and spent taxpayer money renting rooms at
five-star resorts in Kuwait.
But instead of expressing outrage the government's top watchdog,
Pentagon Inspector General Joseph Schmitz, last week parroted the
company line, saying he believes Halliburton's problems "are not out of
line with the size and scope of their contracts." He then accused the
press of overemphasizing the connections between the company and its
former CEO Dick Cheney, even though Vice President Cheney still collects
hundreds of thousands of dollars in deferred compensation, owns company
stock options, and had his office "coordinate" Halliburton contracts in
Iraq.
Why is the government's top independent watchdog deliberately
sugarcoating taxpayer ripoffs? Because he, like other Bush
administration officials charged with overseeing expenditures in Iraq,
is anything but independent.
Instead of filling the various inspector general, comptroller, and
budget officer positions in Iraq with skilled, non-partisan public
servants, President Bush has packed them with partisans and cronies like
Schmitz. Many of these individuals have longstanding political ties with
the administration and ties to the very industries and companies that
they are supposed to oversee. Here are the dirty details:
Joseph Schmitz: Defense Department Inspector General
Defense Department Inspector General Joseph Schmitz was appointed to his
post by President Bush in 2001 after the Associated Press reported the
office "was caught cheating" and destroying internal documents. His
office has broad jurisdiction to investigate all Pentagon contracts,
both in Iraq and elsewhere. But judging by Schmitz's qualifications, the
White House had one thing in mind when it appointed him: political
loyalty.
According to National Journal, Schmitz is the son of former California
Rep. John G. Schmitz, who was a John Birch Society director. As a member
of the archconservative Washington Legal Foundation, Joseph Schmitz made
a name for himself as "a conservative activist" and as a lawyer for
House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a court case attempting to outlaw forms
of taxation. In 1992, he authored a letter to The Washington Times
insinuating that the Democratic presidential nominee had connections to
Russian intelligence, writing, "The KGB apparently knows more about the
shady side of Bill Clinton than the American people ever will."
His short tenure at the Pentagon has been marked not only by defending
Halliburton, but also by defending the administration he is supposed to
be overseeing. For instance, in 2002, Schmitz refused congressional
entreaties to declassify a report detailing how the administration was
providing inadequate training and protective gear to troops in the event
of a bio-chemical attack.
And Schmitz's corporate background has also raised questions about his
objectivity. According to the January 5, 1996, Aviation Daily
newsletter, Schmitz "had a number of airline clients in his private
practice" -- and as IG has subsequently refused bipartisan efforts to
intervene and terminate a controversial, multi-billion-dollar Pentagon
contract with Boeing. The contract would send more than $23 billion in
taxpayer funds to the company, yet in return would only be allowed to
lease jets, not own them. In fact, even though Schmitz himself admitted
the administration "used inappropriate procurement strategies and did
not use best business practices ... to provide sufficient
accountability" for the contract, he claimed there was "no compelling
reason" to halt the deal.
Stuart Bowen: Coalition Provisional Authority Inspector General
The inspector general of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is
described by the CPA's website as an "independent and objective
oversight office" to monitor taxpayer money being spent on contracts.
But instead of appointing someone with budget or contracting experience,
the White House appointed Stuart Bowen, Jr., a Texas lawyer with
longtime ties to President Bush. Before being appointed Inspector
General, Bowen worked directly for the President for eight years -- most
recently as a White House legal counselor, and before that in the Texas
governor's office.
According to The Chicago Tribune, between his time at the White House
and the CPA, Bowen lobbied for Iraq contracts for the consulting firm
URS Group; his connections to the Bush team landed contracts worth up to
$30 million. As inspector general, Bowen oversees many of the
investigations into Halliburton's misuse of taxpayer money. Yet despite
evidence that the company could be bilking taxpayers, he has been only
mildly critical. In fact, one of his most public statements was a call
for more taxpayer money to be spent in Iraq, not more control over that
money: In April he issued a report discussing "the need for more funding
to accomplish the reconstruction mission."
Over the years, Bowen has displayed a penchant for placing ideology and
political loyalty above independent analysis. During his time in Texas,
for instance, Bowen wrote a memo to Bush regarding the 1997 execution of
David Wayne Spence, using what The Nation called "distortion, omissions,
outright lies, and an inappropriate adversarial bent." Writing several
months after the execution and using the same information Bowen used in
his memo, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert concluded that Spence was
"almost certainly innocent" and the case against him a "travesty." This
behavior was more the rule than the exception for Bowen's office. As a
2000 study noted, one third of the 131 death penalty cases under
Governor Bush involved lawyers who were later disbarred or otherwise
sanctioned -- yet Bush and his legal team ignored this injustice and
pushed forward with signing the highest number of death certificates in
the country.
George Wolfe: CPA Office of Management and Budget
On March 18, 2003, the Bush administration appointed Treasury official
George Wolfe as the director of the CPA's Office of Management and
Budget. In that capacity, he is supposed to oversee spending by the CPA.
Yet Wolfe's major career distinction is serving as the top corporate
lawyer at South Carolina's largest law firm, Nelson, Mullins, Riley, &
Scarborough. The firm, which has made more than $23,000 in contributions
to President Bush, represents construction firms and private banks --
both industries Wolfe is now supposed to be overseeing at the CPA.
According to National Journal, Wolfe's wife, Virginia, is a former
spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee
and currently works at the public-relations firm Manning, Selvage, &
Lee. Her firm now lists the U.S. Army as one of its clients. The couple
has made substantial campaign donations to President Bush and
conservatives in Congress.
Andrew Natsios: Administrator of U.S. Agency for International
Development
Andrew Natsios heads the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID), where he oversees the bidding process for reconstruction
contracts in Iraq. Under his leadership, the Bechtel Corporation
received highly lucrative Iraq contracts, totaling at least $2.83
billion since last April. They received this largesse even though
Nastios had intimate knowledge of the company's poor project management
record: Prior to joining the Bush administration on May 21, 2001,
Natsios was chief executive of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and
oversaw the scandalously bloated Big Dig project -- whose chief
contractor was none other than Bechtel.
Under Bechtel, the cost of the Big Dig project ballooned to more than
five times its original total, from $2.6 billion to a whopping $14.6
billion. According to State Senator Robert Havern, chairman of the
Massachusetts Joint Transportation Committee looking into the scandalous
project, "it was when Natsios was Turnpike chief that the biggest rise
in costs, from $10.8 billion to $14.7 billion, took place."
Lawmakers have submitted formal requests to Natsios, demanding that he
release information about all the contracts his agency has awarded. But
according to Rep. Henry Waxman, six months after the invasion not one
contract had been released by Natsios for congressional review.
Dov Zakheim: Defense Department Chief Financial Officer
According to the Baltimore Sun, Dov Zakheim -- who until April was the
Defense Department's chief financial officer -- described himself as "a
very partisan person." And his mix of partisanship and corporate
lobbying for defense contractors made him a perfect Bush administration
appointee to oversee all financial transactions at the Pentagon.
Before being appointed, Zakheim made a career selling access to the
Pentagon as CEO of the defense consultancy Systems Planning Corporation.
A client named Emultek bragged in an August 1997 press release that
partnering with Zakheim would provide "significant DoD exposure for the
company." In 2000, he was a part of a neoconservative group nicknamed
"the Vulcans" who were senior advisors to the Bush campaign. After
taking office Bush appointed him to the Defense Department where "he
oversaw three Department of Defense budgets, each totaling more than
$300 billion, and recently proposed a 2005 budget of $401.7 billion."
Zakheim resigned in April to take a lucrative position as a vice
president of the consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton. According to a May 6,
2004 press release, he will be an officer in Booz Allen's "public
sector" business.
Norm Szydolowski: CPA Review Board
With concerns from both Iraqis and the international community about who
will control Iraq's oil, the CPA's liaison to the fledgling Iraqi oil
ministry is a highly sensitive position. Yet, the Bush administration
brushed aside all concerns and nominated ChevronTexaco Vice President
Norm Szydlowski to fill the position.
The company, of course, has a lot to gain from Iraq's vast oil fields --
and it invested wisely to place one of its top executives in such a
sensitive position. ChevronTexaco has contributed $515,388 in PAC money
and $534,550 soft money to the GOP since 2000.
* * * * *
For its part, the White House has made a concerted effort to keep any
probe of taxpayer fraud within the bounds of these compromised
officials' purview. The administration has gone out of its way to rebuff
congressional investigations. Waxman has made numerous requests for
basic information but has been virtually ignored, even as the offending
parties continue to bilk taxpayers. Even when Waxman tried to call
Halliburton employees to testify before Congress about contracting
abuses, House Republicans blocked him.
The companies that charge for food that has not been served or supplies
that have not been delivered should be held responsible for their
misdeeds. But the administration should also be held accountable for its
failure to root out the corruption. The American people are now
suffering the consequences of President Bush's decision to appoint
overseers who are partisan, conflicted, and unqualified. And the
problems did not simply go away after the transfer of power to Iraqis on
June 30 -- U.S. taxpayer-funded private contracting work is scheduled to
go on indefinitely.
How much more taxpayer money will be siphoned off before the Bush
administration is willing to admit they have a problem?
David Sirota is the director of strategic communications at the Center
for American Progress. He formerly served as chief spokesman for
Democrats on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee. Judd Legum is the
deputy research director at the Center for American Progress.
Dear MoveOn Member,
Pundits say that we live in a closely divided nation. If you look at elections, that's
true. Yet wide majorities of Americans share our values: fair wages, great public
schools, a healthy environment.
What do we need to do move things in our direction? There's a simple place to
start--we need to make sure everyone registers to vote.
And this Sunday, we're going to get started. We'll register as many as 10,000
voters in one shot, helping to beat Bush in the bargain. More than 6,000 MoveOn
members will be calling voters in key election states and registering them. Will you help us? To join a phone
party near you, click here:
http://action.moveonpac.org/phone/
It'll be fun--you'll get to meet other local MoveOn members, and all you need to bring is a cell phone to make
your calls on, plus several stamped envelopes to send forms to the people you call. And since we're calling on
the weekend, most cell phone calls will be free.
We'll provide everything else. You'll call unregistered voters for an hour or two, help them fill out the voter
registration form over the phone, then mail it to them to sign and send in. This is a great way to bring new voters
into the process, and a big step toward winning back the White House.
If there's no party near you, or even if there is but you want to call with your friends, you can hold your own
party. Just set it up on our website, decide whether other MoveOn members can sign up and pick a maximum
number of participants, and we'll give you all the information and tools you need-lists of voters, a script
to read, voter registration forms, and a way to send the results back in easily.
Many people register when they get a drivers' license, but it's a huge project to track down those who don't and
persuade them to register. But remember Florida in 2000--with a margin of only 537 votes, each registration is a
big step forward.
It's incredibly important, but we can't do it without you. Sign up now:
http://action.moveonpac.org/phone/
We hope you can make it on Sunday. Thank you.
We know that women's votes can be the margin to elect John Kerry and John Edwards in 2004 -- so long as American women know what's at stake. Now, it's up to us to get the word out!
Next Saturday, July 17th, women all over the country will hold Kerry-Edwards House Meetings for their friends, family, colleagues and neighbors, to talk about the issues of this election, and how working together we can turn our country around.
We need you to host a House meeting in your community or to join one that is already under way. To sign up, please visit our website.
When you talk to your friends, tell them: John Kerry has a strong and consistent record of working for women. He has promoted women-owned small businesses, and was a co-sponsor of the Family and Medical Leave Act. As President, John Kerry will ease the pressure on working families, with a tax credit for child care and expanded after-school programs. He will strengthen enforcement of the Equal Pay Act - and he will protect our right to choose.
Cheney Proved Wrong Again. You may remember that last month Vice President Dick Cheney said that he was sure there was a "general relationship" between Iraq and Al Qaeda, even though the 9/11 Commission reported there was no credible evidence of cooperation in the 9/11 attack. Cheney said he "probably" had information the Commission did not have. Cheney also repeated his claim that there may have been a meeting in Prague between an Iraqi intelligence officer and one of the 9/ll hijackers; although he then denied he ever said the meeting had been "pretty well confirmed". Unfortunately for the Vice president's credibility, he did make that statement -- on national television.
Now the 9/11 Commission has corrected Cheney again. "Our position is firm, unchanged and committed to our previous finding." Commission Co-Chairs said, "We have not discovered collaboration-cooperation between Al Qaeda and Iraq in general terrorist activities across the world, against the United States."
Just in case someone tries to say John Edwards doesn't have as much experience as -- oh, Dick Cheney for example? Ask them, experience in doing what?
Bush White House Rules: Threats And Withholding Information From Congress Are Legal. When the drug company sponsored Medicare bill passed Congress this spring, Democrats charged that information about the bill had been withheld from Congress. They said Thomas Scully, head of Medicare at the time, actually threatened to fire the program's chief actuary if he honestly answered questions about how much the bill would cost.
Now an internal report by the Department of Health and Human Services has confirmed these charges: the official was threatened with losing his job and facts were withheld from Congress.
Guess what? The Department found "no criminal violations" in these acts. If Thomas Scully were still working for the federal government, he might be "subject to disciplinary action". But -- surprise! -- Scully is now a lobbyist for major drug companies (he conducted his job search while the bill was being debated), the very same companies most affected by the new law.
Republicans said they'd change the tone in Washington. We just didn't realize in what direction.
Will Jeb Bush's Florida Try To Deny Votes Again?? We got more disturbing news about Florida this week: local newspapers learned that the so-called "felons" list compiled by the Secretary of State's office includes "thousands of names apparently listed by mistake." Jeb Bush's appointed Secretary of State Glenda Hood would not tell reporters whether she was bothered by the flawed lists, adding: "I'm not here to give personal opinions."
Is barring American citizens from the polls a matter of personal opinion? The DNC's Voting Rights Institute will continue to monitor the elections process in Florida and every state -- because every American deserves the right to vote - and every vote deserves to be counted!
The Voting Rights Institute will hold Election Day legal trainings at Democratic National Convention in Boston, MA July 26-29, covering everything from state election law to voter intimidation and suppression tactics masked as ballot security measures. Contact VRI Director Vincent Fry to learn more.
We need your help to ensure free and fair elections. If you are interested in being a part of the DNC's Voting Rights Institute voter protection team please fill out our volunteer form.
Democrats Taking The Lead
A New Team For A New America. This week, John Kerry chose Senator John Edwards to join the winning ticket to take back the White House. As the next Vice President of the U.S., we are confident that this new ticket will make America safer and stronger -- which is important now, more than ever. Future First Lady Teresa Heinz Kerry and Elizabeth Edwards are also a phenomenal team that will ensure women's issues are at the forefront of every discussion and decision.
As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, John Edwards helped author numerous laws post 9/11, such as Anti-Terrorism legislation and legislation to develop plans to deal with biological and chemical attacks. And we know John Edwards has a strong record of supporting women's rights, families and the right to choose. He has worked to protect Roe vs. Wade and has opposed anti-choice nominations. He has also been a leader on women's health issues, including passing a real Patients Bill of Rights to require HMOs to cover OB/GYNs and breast cancer treatments, and has strongly supported equal pay for women. Senator Edwards also has stood up for families, because he knows that being a parent is harder than ever. His proposals will offer parents a chance to spend more time with their children, and help parents instill strong values in our children.
John Kerry wanted a Vice President who could meet the challenges of our time, who was ready to be President, and who shared his vision and his values -- that's why he chose John Edwards. Together, they will give real American families a voice in the White House.